How Content Marketing Can Solve the Common Problems for Growing B2B Businesses

December 30th, 2019

By Samantha Pyle

I can’t tell you the number of B2B business leaders I’ve met with over the past year who are looking for new ways to increase revenue and expand their business. Whether it’s entering a new market or introducing a new service line, it seems like many businesses are positioning themselves for growth in 2020.

Of course, these growth strategies often create new challenges. In this post, I want to take a few minutes to highlight some of the most common challenges I’ve heard from B2B business leaders and a few ways that content marketing can help you overcome them.

3 Common Problems for Growing B2B Businesses (and How to Overcome Them)

Here are three challenges I hear from growing businesses when a few specific ways that content marketing can address each issue:

Problem #1: A Product or Service That’s Difficult to Explain

Explaining what you do can be a challenge, especially if you’re a fairly new product or service in a very niche industry. The good news is that content marketing allows you to explain your offering effectively, without relying on traditional product and service descriptions.

If you sell a complex product or find that it’s difficult for prospective clients to understand your service, using content marketing is a no-brainer. It’s all about helping people. There are various types of content marketing tools to choose from.

Content marketing gives you the opportunity to help prospective customers solve their common issues with a webinar or white paper. Once you’ve created a connection with them, you can begin to educate them on how your product or service can solve their pain points with a case study.

Problem #2: A Long or Complex Sales Cycle

Sales cycles in the B2B world are often long and include multiple decision-makers. This makes it challenging to stay top of mind or keep the conversation going with prospective buyers.

While it’s important to emphasize the value your brand can deliver, customers and prospects want more. Continuing to add value throughout the sales cycle is a great way to earn the attention and trust of prospective customers. Think about the questions specific decision-makers might have or obstacles your internal champion might run into during the buying process—and then use content marketing to proactively address those issues.

Problem #3: Creating Awareness About a New Product or Service Line

When you expand into a new market or launch a new product/service, many people may have a hard time understanding how it fits into their brand perception. Content marketing can help you adopt the approach of telling stories of how other companies are using your product or service so prospects can understand. This creates that aha moment and helps potential customers recognize you as a tangible solution they can apply to their respective business.

If you’re looking to expand your business in 2020, don’t neglect the power that content marketing can bring to your marketing efforts. Identify the problem that you’re trying to solve, and then look for creative ways to use content to create more meaningful experiences for prospective customers.